Day 12: Capri

Anacapri, Italy

Well, Capri has certainly won my heart over! I know I said I was retiring to Tuscany, but maybe I’ll go to Capri for most of the year and venture to Tuscany to pick up an annual supply of olive oil instead 🙂 We had scheduled an excursion via our hotel to take a boat to the Island of Capri with stops to the three main grottos around the island – glad we got to see the one in Amafli yesterday. Unfortunately, the water was too rough and chances of thunderstorms throughout the day resulted in our trip being canceled. They told us the main ferry boats would still be running, so we decided to chance it (rain was supposed to be near 8AM and 2/3PM), so we left near 8:30AM to walk to the port, so we could catch the mid-day sun. The water sure was rough, even on a large boat (like the jet express we take to the islands in CLE) with ~200 people on it! We were all glad to not be on a small boat at this point… Just as we neared the island a huge thunderstorm broke out (Italian weathermen can’t get it right either!) and we rocked for a few minutes at a standstill until the boat finally headed in to dock. Luckily, the crew began selling ponchos, so we all covered up and ran through the flooded streets and heavy rain to a little tram station that took us up the mountain. As we rose higher, the sun peeked out and was starting to look beautiful! We got to the center of Capri and decided to grab a cappuccino under a covered cafe to be sure the weather was really ok! In moments, we couldn’t believe the difference. The dark, gray thunder clouds moved away and beautiful blue skies with billowy, white clouds and a few thunderheads filled the sky! We decided to walk down the hilly pathway to Marina Piccola. We loved sneaking a peek at many of the villas tucked away in the side of the cliffs and were impressed by the clear, blue/teal water we started to spot! As we reached the bottom, we saw the famous stone structure of Capri, and various restaurants and resorts surrounding the crystal clear water with beautiful white waves. We found a little inlet and snapped some photos, and then we found a small public beach where we could hop right into the blue water (Tyrrhenian Sea). The morning rain kept Capri quite until a little after lunch time. It seemed like we had our own private oasis to share with just a few other people. We all enjoyed relaxing with this view and couldn’t get over the combination of Capri’s cliffs, brilliant water and the blue/sunny sky! We decided this spot was too beautiful to leave, and had another incredible lunch (Lo Scoglio Delle Sirene Capri) with fresh seafood, caprice salad and prosecco! From here, we boarded the mini orange bus used to fit throughout the winding streets (decided the walk back up after our feast for lunch was too much) and headed to Anacapri. At this point in our trip we weren’t interested in any more little shopping towns, so we took in the view and headed to their chairlift that takes you up 589 meters further up the mountain to Monte Solaro (Anacapri is ~150 meters higher in elevation than Capri)! We hopped on to the little individual chairlift seats and enjoyed the 13 minute ride to the top! The views were just unbelievable and the photos only capture a portion of how this feels in person. You truly feel on top of the world. We could spot the stone structures we had previously eaten lunch by, and couldn’t believe how small they looked from a far! After taking in the view, we decided to head back down to be sure we got a ferry boat back (last one leaves at 6:30PM). We caught the 5:45PM one and made our way back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. We greatly enjoyed our meal at Fauno Bar, and all ate entirely too much again (assortment of meat for antipasti, a spicy/garlic pasta and pasta bolognese, plus entries of veal scaloppini, eggplant parmesan and some of the best Italian sausage we’ve ever tried)! Pheww…ready to work out again ASAP! This lifestyle is getting hard 😉 Tomorrow we’re planning to relax at the beautiful hotel pool after all our running around! Ciao!